Which Rapper Is So Invested in Downton Abbey That He’s Sent Passionate Fan Mail?

Courtesy of Nick Briggs/Carnival Film & Television Limited 2015 for MASTERPIECE.

Downton Abbey has claimed royals, Hollywood players, politicians, and plebes as fans. But there is one demographic that has not yet been conquered in Julian Fellowes’s siege of the soapy period drama: rappers. Or so we thought! On Monday, we learn of one such hip-hop artist who is so besotted with the series that he has shed tears over it, written passionate fan letters in response to tragic story arcs, and, now, officially gone on record about his love affair with the Abbey.

That artist? Sean Combs a.k.a. P. Diddy. The entrepreneur and host to ungracious home intruders is such a fan that he took part in a BAFTA TV tribute to the series on the eve of its final season, and opened up about his affection for the series, and what exactly attracted him to it in the first place.

“I’m interested in history, kings, and lords,” P. Diddy told BAFTA. “I watched episode one and got wrapped up in it. Then I found out I had a crush on Lady Sybil. [Editor’s note: !!!!] I watched it every week to see her pretty eyes and discovered the show was excellent. The writing is incredible and each character is such a great actor.”

Like with most fans, P. Diddy’s relationship with the series became complicated when it killed off his favorite character.

“When [Sybil] died, it was devastating to me,” he said, adding, “I was angry and wrote to the creators saying it was uncalled for and stressful. Then when Matthew Crawley died, it was straight tears in my house.” P. Diddy was not just heartbroken because he thought Lady Mary and Matthew belonged 2gether 4ever but because Matthew’s “plight as an outsider coming in, being hit with a fortune and having to figure it out, reminded me of myself.”

And how does the entrepreneur feel about the show concluding next year?

“I’m not happy the show is ending. We have to do something about it.”

From your lips to Julian Fellowes’s ears, P. Diddy!

Two years back, P. Diddy pledged his allegiance to Downton Abbey—or Downtown Abbey as he affectionately called it—in a Funny or Die spoof in which the rapper starred as the show’s first black character, enacting scenes with the superimposed ghosts of Lord Grantham and the Dowager Countess.